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OBSERVATIONS 



A P A M P H L E T, 



ENTITLED 



"REMARKS ON THE SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT \ 



HON. HORACE MANN, 



SECEETAET OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF EDaCATION." 




BOSTON : 



SAMUEL N. DICKINSON, PRINTER, 
52 Washiugton Street. 



1844, 



V 



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OBSERVATIONS 



A PAMPHLET, 



" REMARKS ON THE SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 
THE HON. HORACE MANN, SECRETARY OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF EDUCATION." 



A FEW days ago a pamphlet, with the title given above, was 
put into my hands. It emanates, as a prefatory notice informs us, 
from more than thirty of the teachers in our public schools — some 
of whom I know to be among the most respected of our fellow- 
citizens. Coming from such men, I have been very much sur- 
prised to find such doctrines as this pamphlet contains, and 
such a spirit as it breathes. It contradicts the language of the 
uniform tenor of their lives. 

They have^ at least some of them, desired to elevate the char- 
acter and calling of the teacher — to introduce the best methods 
— and to bring to bear the highest motives in the instruction 
and government of a school. Here, they are seeking to make 
us satisfied with the schools and teachers — the methods and 
motives — as they have been, and as they are. 

I can hardly understand how they have determined thus to 
come out, in a hostile attitude, against one who has done so 
much to advance the cause in which they are engaged ; to elevate, 
and bring to honor, the school and the teacher ; and to cause 
Education to be considered the first interest of society. 

Is it possible that these gentlemen are disappointed in the 
declarations of this Seventh Report ? Could they really expect 
that a person who had seen the best schools abroad, would come 
home prepared to pronounce panegyrics upon the Grammar 
Schools of Boston? Can it be that they are not aware that 
many of their fellow-citizens look upon these schools as doing 



very little, compared with what might be done? Have they 
learned nothing irom the almost uniform look of disappointment 
with which mteltig-ent strangers leave their schools? They 
enumerate, with apparent self-gratulation, the names of the able 
and distinguished persons who have, as committee men, had the 
supervision of their schools. Do they not remember that many 
of the ablest and best of these have either spent their term of 
service in introdncing reform, or have attempted, in vain, meas- 
ures of mere radical reform, which, as they thought, were imper- 
atively demanded? Do they not remember how much has been 
done to improve their schools within the last twenty years; — 
how much even within ten? And that, when nothing was 
taught in their schools but the merest elements, the cry of " ex- 
cellent schools"! was just as loud as it is now? And, after all 
this, do they not yet understand the true meaning of these annual 
eulogiams? Do they still suppose their schools the best in the 
worfd ? And are ihey really disappointed that Mr. Mann did 
not pronounce them such ? 

I have not time to go into a full examination of their pam- 
phlet. But there are some points on which they have so com- 
pletely misapprehended, as I conceive, the object of the Secretary 
of the Board of Education, and others — and those of great 
importance — on which they have done such injustice to him 
and to the cause to which he is devoted, that I am compelled to 
appear in defence of what I believe to be truth and justice. 

The first point to which I would call attention, is, the declara- 
tion, that the cause of education was '■'"never more prosperous 
than at the time the Board of Education ivas formed.''^ I believe 
this is true of Boston, and a few other places. But, as far as 
could be learned from the declaration of persons of intelligence, 
the case, in many parts of the Commonwealth, was just the 
reverse. In many places, it icas never less prosperous. The 
Hon. J. G. Carter, to whom these gentlemen refer, wrote much, 
and with great power, to show how far the schools had fallen 
from their former high state, and how greatly they came short of 
the demands of the" public. The letters of Mr. Carter excited 
very general attention. Their truth was admitted. Year after 
year, at meetings of the American Institute, reports and state- 
ments were made, showing clearly, that unless scores of most 
intelligent men of all professions were entirely misinformed and 
deceived, the schools in many parts of the State were in a 
deplorable condition. This general impression led the Institute 
to address Memorials to the Legislature, asking that something 
might be done for the improvement of the schools. It was 
admitted by the Representatives from all parts of the Common- 



weallh, that the strong statements made in these memorials were 
not exaggerated. In their wisdom they acted on the subject, and 
created a Board of Education; thereby not only admitting that 
something ought to be done for the schools, but meaning that 
something should be done. ■-'' 

Whom did the Board choose for their Secretary? A man 
who had just given evidence of his profound and intimate ac- 
quaintance with tlie laws and institutions of JMassachusetts, by 
the important part he had taken in the preparation of the Re- 
vised Statutes of the State ; and who had proved, in ways which 
it falls to the lot of few men in a century to conceive, much 
less to execute, how deeply he felt for suHering humanity, and 
how strenuously he would labor for its relief. Witness that 
noble institution, the hospital for the insane, at Worcester. 

Horace Mann was called from a prominent position in civil 
life, and a most lucrative profession, to do what he could for the 
improvement of the schools. He listened to the call, he forgot 
his own personal interests, and entered upon the work with a 
self-sacrificing devotion, which has seldom been surpassed. 

What he did in his earlier Reports constitutes one of the charges 
now brought against him. He had the boldness and honesty 
to declare in what condition he found the schools. He said it in 
words not to be mistaken — in words which resounded not only 
from one end of the State to the other — but from side to side 
of the whole country. Every where they opened men's eyes. 
What he declared to be true in Massachusetts, was found to be 
true in almost every State in the Union. He did, indeed, as 
the gentlemen charge, say much about "incompetent teach- 
ers," — " ignorance of teachers," — " depressed state of Common 
Schools," — "that the schools were under a sleepy supervision," 
and many things more, great and alarming truths, some of which 
the gentlemen have quoted ; and many others, of equal moment, 
which they have not. He not only said these things, but he 
proved them. He called attention to them. He made men feel 
their vast importance. He made them tremble for the Common- 
wealth, if things were allowed to remain unchanged. If any one 
asks, with what effect this trumpet-blast of the Secretary was blown, 
let him look at any, or all of the School Returns, which have 
annually, since then, made their appearance. Not an assertion 
of the Secretary, in regard to the ignorance and incompetence of 
teachers, and the numerous defects in the schools, which he 
pointed out, but is confirmed, in the amplest manner. The faith- 
ful citizens of the Commonwealth have been effectually alarmed 
and aroused. Every shout of the Secretary is reechoed from a 



hundred hills. Every word of his has a hundred responses, and 
that not only from men like Dr. Howe, and the President of the 
Institute, who, as the writers of the pamphlet so charitably pre- 
tend, have been flattered, or caressed, and must pay in kind, — 
but from other men, good and true men, — strangers, often, to the 
Secretary, but at home to every thing which concerns the vital in- 
terests of their children, and not to be imposed upon by false re- 
presentations. Those volumes of School Returns are the most 
remarkable volumes upon the subject of the Schools ever pub- 
lished. One feels proud of our glorious old Commonwealth, on 
reading them ; proud, that there are men in almost every one of 
its three hundred towns, capable of feeling truth so deeply, and 
of uttering it so boldly, and so powerfully. And the most 
remarkable thing in these Returns is their unanimity upon all 
essential points. There is just enough of diffCTcnce to show 
there was no collusion. Let any person read these Returns, 
and believe, if he can, that this multitude of strong-minded 
men have been seduced by the Secretary into a reaffirmation of 
his opinions ; for his opinions are reaffirmed, in the fullest and 
most striking manner. The simple truth is, the "theories" of 
the Secretary have stood the test of the experience of the wise 
men of the State. 

The nextpointbroughttoviewin the " Remarks," is, the radical 
doctrines which have been broached by some of the friends of 
the Secretary. They have spoken against corporal punishment, 
prizes, emulation, and treating children with distrust. Their 
opinions are quoted, somewhat at length. Dr. Howe is quoted 
as saying of his own school : " We have no corporal punish- 
ments, no prizes, no taking precedence in classes, no degrada- 
tions. Emulation there is, and will be ; nature provides for this, 
in the self-esteem of each individual." I am reported to have 
said what I am very willing to repeat, and, while I repeat it, I 
appeal to the experience of persons in " the world," as well as 
out, for its truth, — "There is no so ready way to produce 
falsehood in a child, as to doubt his word." I repeat it, and I 
believe it to apply to men, as well as to children. Show a man 
that you suspect him, and you tempt him to deceive you. Treat 
him with generous confidence, and you tempt him to generosity 
in return. Mr. Pierce is quoted as saying : " And here I would 
state, that my theory goes to the entire exclusion of the premium 
and emulation system, and of corporal punishment." On these 
opinions the gentlemen pronounce : " It is hard to conceive of 
any thing more radical, and less conservative, than such views, 
when considered in connection with the administration of all the 
institutions of New England, during the last two centuries." 



It is not quite fair to make the Secretary responsible for all 
these opinions. From one of them he has always been known 
to dissent. He believes in the necessity of corporal punishment, 
in schools organized as most of our public schools now are. He 
would only have it restrained within the narrowest practicable 
limits. He would have it appealed to only in the last resort. 
AVith ihis exception, it is admitted that these individuals do hold 
the opinions wliich are here attributed to them. For one, I am 
willing to declare, that I hold these opinions, those expressed 
by Dr. Howe, those of the President of the American Insti- 
tute, and those of Mr. Pierce, — with the single exception, that I 
believe in the necessity of corporal punishment in most Common 
Schools; and if I had the clarion voice of the Secretary, I would 
sound these opinions in the ears of every teacher in Christendom. 
I have done what little I could, to make them known, and, 
with the blessing of God, I mean to do. more ; for I verily 
believe them to be the truth. I base my whole doctrine of 
motives upon the Gospel, and there I find nothing of blows, 
or of distrust, or emulation, or desire of pecuniary prizes, or dis- 
tinctions among men, as the incentives to the highest action. 
I believe all these motives are strong enough already in "the 
Avorld," without our adding to their strength, by constantly 
appealing to them in school. And I would ask these gentlemen 
whether they have not themselves frequently had, whether they 
do not still have, misgivings as to the effect upon the character 
of the flogging system, the emulation system, and the medal 
system ? Their responsibility is now divided ; school commit- 
tees come in for a share. But if they were singly responsible to 
God and to the future men and women whom their influence is 
contributing to form, would they not modify the course they 
now pursue, in some most important particulars ? 

The authors of the Remarks have most gratuitously 
assumed, that all which the Secretary says of the good schools, 
or remarkable schools, of Scotland and Prussia, w^as intended, 
invidiously, against the teachers of the Boston schools. They 
seem to ground their assumption on the following sentence, 
which they quote, among others, from the Seventh Report: 

" Perhaps I saw as fair a proportion of the Prussian and Saxon schools, as one 
would see of the schools in Massachusetts, who should visit those of Boston, New- 
buryport, Lexington, New Bedford, Worcester, Northampton, and Springfield." 

This would, evidently, have precisely the meaning it now has, 
if seven other towns of the same size, were there such, had been 
named instead of these. It is merely an illustration, intended to 
give an idea of the extent of his information, in regard to the 



German Schools. The authors of the Remarks insist upon 
understanding as meant for them what was evidently not meant 
for them, particularly ; and the word "Boston," in the above 
quotation, so dwelt upon by these gentlemen, might have 
been replaced by another name, New York, Baltimore, or 
New Orleans, if such occurred in the Massachusetts catalogue, 
without altering its meaning in any thing essential. 

It would have been much more fair, and perhaps more near to 
the truth, if the gentlemen had taken it for granted that the rea- 
son why the Secretary has not visited them, as he has teachers in 
other parts of the State, was, that he knew they needed it less — 
that they received the careful supervision which he wished to see 
exercised throughout the State. I have no authority to say this 
was the case. I have reason to believe it to be, from the fact, 
that he entertains the highest respect for the character of those 
among them with whom he is best acquainted. Indeed, it is 
obvious that the teachers of the large towns and cities must need 
the aid of the information and advice of a Superintendent of 
Schools, supposing him capable of giving any, far less than the 
changing and occasional teachers of the small districts in the 
country towns. In the large towns, many of the difficulties, to 
remove which the Secretary has been exerting himself, do not 
exist. Some of these are the frequent change of teachers and 
books, and the consequent multiplicity of text-books, careless- 
ness in the selection of teachers, and incompetency in teachers, 
from the inadequacy of compensation. These are evils of great 
importance. But they are almost confined to the small towns; 
and in order to remove, or lessen them, it was right that 
the Secretary should give his first attention to the country 
schools. "With these schools he has consequently become 
most familiar, and it is perfectly natural that he should compare 
them with those he saw abroad. It would have been equally 
natural for these gentlemen to say, " Mr. Mann cannot, in his 
disparaging comparisons, mean our schools, which he has not 
seen, but those only "with which he is familiar." 

I believe most readers of his last Report, who were familiar 
with his former Reports, must have thought thus. It is much to 
be regretted that it should not have occurred to the authors of 
the Remarks, or, if it did occur to them, that they did not allow 
it to influence their judgment of that Report. 

The second part of the Remarks is a notice of the absurdly 
active Scotch schools which Mr. Mann describes, and of some 
of the Prussian modes of instruction. The notice is a fair one, 
excepting, always, the gratuitous assumption that Mr. Mann in- 
tended, in his account of either, any reflection upon the schools 



of Boston. It is not easy to conceive of any thing more ob- 
jectionable than the modes of instruction used in the Scotch 
schools. Certainly, any one, who had seen the quiet energy of 
some of our Boston schools, would not hesitate to prefer it to the 
rabid and exhausting volubility of master and scholar in the 
Scotch. 

The example of the Prussian school-master suggests the great 
advantages of thorough daily preparation ; a point in which our 
teachers are probably most at fault; but the unreasonableness of 
the extreme to which it would lead, of rejecting text-books alto- 
gether, is, as it deserves, well pointed out. 

Then comes a long argument, which seems to be conduct- 
ed with ability, in defence of the usual modes of teaching 
to read. It is, however, so much embarrassed by irrelevant 
matter that one cannot easily judge of the argument itself. The 
attempts at wit, which, if successful, would have given point 
and sjiirit to the logic, here only tend to obscure it; and the 
intended sarcasm has no other eliect than to draw the attention 
of the reader from the question before him to the melancholy 
state of feeling which pervaded the breast of the writer. One 
cannot help wondering, that a simple difference of opinion upon 
the best mode of teaching a child his letters, should be so deeply 
moving; and one looks around for something extrinsic to the 
argument to account for the excitement. We welcome the argu- 
ment^ believing that nothing but good can come from discussion, 
fairly conducted; but we cannot, with these authors, look upon 
it as a very grave offence that the Secretary should have em- 
braced a view of the subject which has been adopted by mul- 
titudes of successful teachers in this country and abroad, how 
much soever it may differ from that held by these gentlemen. 

The fourth part of the Remarks, entitled School Discipline, is 
a very able, well-considered, temperate, and thorough examination 
of that subject. The author, — for there is a singleness of view 
and uniform beauty of style about the argumentative parts, strongly 
indicating them as the work of one, — the animadversions may 
have come from others, — if not, they certainly came from a to- 
tally different region of the author's mind, — the author seeks to 
establish the position, that "implicit obedience to rightful author- 
ity must be inculcated and enforced upon children as the very 
germ of all good order in future society." This most important 
principle is sustained with power and success. It is placed, so 
far as reasoning can place it, on an immovable foundation. All 
this is excellent, so far as it goes; and all this the Secretary of 
the Board of Education, and the other gentlemen quoted, would 
be the last to gainsay* But they would say, — at least, one of 



8 

them does say, — that this whole argument, excellent as it is, 
falls far short of the end which authority should have in view, — 
infinitely short of the end for which authority should be estab- 
lished. 

Authority is either that of brute force, personal authority, 
or the authority of law. Of the first, I have little to say. 
I admit its necessity in extreme cases. I grieve that it should 
have occupied so large a place in so pure a mind as that from 
which this portion of the Remarks came. Strange, that the his- 
tory of discipline in jails, prison-ships, and asylums for the in- 
sane, should not have suggested to him the advantages of a higher 
principle. 

Personal authority should be founded upon personal qualities ; 
upon those which command respect, or those which win affec- 
tion. Strength of character, intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, 
eloquence, are naturally commanding ; the Christian graces, gen- 
tleness, kindness, patience, readiness to forgive, and the charity 
which thinketh no evil, are, as naturally, winning. On such 
foundations as these should the personal authority of the teacher 
be established. And let it not be deemed unreasonable in the 
community, or in those who have influence with the community, 
to be making a continually louder call for such qualities as these, 
in the teachers of our public schools. There is a particular style 
of character appropriate to the vocation of a teacher. As the true 
spirit of Christianity more fully prevails, the demand for this must 
be more strongly felt, and more distinctly declared. 

Higher than either of these forms of authority, is the authority 
of law. And, by law, I mean the moral law, — whatever is right, 
just, and true. Law, thus understood, appeals to the conscience ; 
and it is only by the sedulous cultivation of the conscience, by bring- 
ing it into action, and keeping it in action, that the authority of law 
can be enthroned. Every school must have its regulations and laws; 
which should be obeyed, not because they are the regulations of 
the school, but because they are intrinsically reasonable, wise, and 
just. Every teacher who compels obedience to a law which is 
unwise, unreasonable, or unjust, does what he can to dethrone 
conscience, and set up his own will in its place. Of course, no 
teacher can be expected to make laws absolutely perfect. But 
they must be, according to his clear, unimpassioned judgment, 
as iaultless as he can make them. And when made, they must 
be distinctly understood to be his; and never, for a moment, al- 
lowed to take the place, in the pupil's mind, of the great eternal 
laws of God. 

Throughout the reasoning of the Remarks, authority is spoken 
of as something good in itself; and no higher view is taken. — 



The authority of law, as I have explained it, is absolutely good, 
in itself; but not so is any other authority ; and the wTiter has left 
out of sight, entirely, the end for which any other authority should 
be established. That end is, in a school, the elevation of the 
pupil ; the preparation, not only of his mind, but of his heart and 
his character, for the duties and responsibilities of life. It is, ac- 
cording to that excellent law of the Commonwealth which pro- 
vides for the Common Schools, — " to impress on the minds of 
children and youth the principles of piety, justice, and a sacred 
regard to truth ; love to their country ; humanity, and universal be- 
nevolence ; sobriety, industry, and frugality ; chastity, moderation, 
and temperance ; and those other virtues, which are the ornament 
of human society, and the basis upon which a republican consti- 
tuuon is founded." 

Now let me ask whether the authority of brute force, or — if 
that expression seems a harsh one — the authority which is estab- 
lished and maintained by corporal punishment, has a very direct 
tendency to form the minds of children to the virtues above en- 
umerated ? Is it not obvious, from the very words of the law, 
that a higher influence than fear of punishment, or emulation, or 
the desire of getting a prize, is expected to be exerted by every 
teacher in the pubhc schools ? 

There is a vast diversity of mind and feeling apparent in the 
different parts of these Remarks. Some of them seem to have 
been uttered by generous men, reluctant to find fault, and delight- 
ing not in disparagement; others breathe the suspicion and dis- 
trust which they defend, as if it were the very air of heaven to 
them. 

One is surprised and almost shocked to find such lofty views 
and such a generous and charitable spirit in such strange com- 
panionship. And one cannot help wondering that a company 
of men of characters, — as indicated by their language, — so 
diverse and heterogeneous, should not have had more indulgence 
for the Secretary, who differs from some of them infinitely less 
than they differ from each other. 

The charges against Mr. Mann, when divested of the husk of 
extraneous and irrelevant circumstances, amount to these three : 

1. That although he admits, in the present state of society, the 
necessity, in the discipline of a school, of recourse to corporal 
punishment, and other modes of influence which he does not 
consider the highest, yet he says what he can, and does what he 
can, to bring these modes of discipline into disfavor ; and to urge 
teachers, whenever and wherever it is possible, to act themselves 
from higher motives, and to lead their pupils to act, as far as 



10 

possible, from higher motives, — the love of knowledge, the love 
of their fellow-men, a generous confidence in each other, the 
sense of duty, anc^ a deep reverence for God and his laws : 

2. That, while he admits that the teachers "are as good 
as public opinion has demanded ; as good as public senti- 
ment has been disposed to appreciate ; as good as public liber- 
ality has been ready to reward, — as good as the preliminary 
measures taken to qualify them would authorize us to expect," — 
he is constantly endeavoring to act upon public opinion, and to 
elevate public sentiment, so that the present teachers shall have 
inducements to improve themselves and that better teachers shall 
be appreciated and demanded, — and stimulating public liberal- 
ity to offer higher rewards, and to provide measures to give the 
teachers better q^ualificalions : 

3. That he is not perfectly familiar with the details of teaching, 
in all its departments, and consequently sometimes recommends 
methods not approved of by some teachers. 

In regard to the first of these, it must be admitted that Mr. 
Mann does not approve of some of the modes which are gener- 
ally followed, and of the motives which, in some places, are 
exclusively relied upon, in the instruction and government of 
children. But suppose he does believe that the spirit of emula- 
tion is strong enough in society already, and needs not to be culti- 
vated in school; suppose he does think that the unbounded 
and profligate ambition, so rife in the land, owes something of 
its mighty and terrible force to the hot-bed culture it 'receives 
in early education ; that the love of money is a root of evil 
poM^erful enough of itself, and sufficiently overgrown and ex- 
cessive, in the American character, already ; and that, therefore, 
the constant excitement of medals, and places, and prizes, power- 
ful as it is in the youthful mind, is questionable, perhaps dan- 
gerous. Suppose he does believe that constant appeals to the 
fear of pain, of shame, and of ridicule, to mercenary motives, and 
to the selfish appetite for praise and for distinction, are debasing ; 
that they may, and sometimes do, poison all the springs of gen- 
erous action. Suppose he does believe and teach, that the schools 
ought to exercise a regenerating influence on society; ihat the 
standard there ovght to be higher than it is in the world ; that 
the school-master ought to be a man of a lofty tone of character, 
of exemplary gentleness, purity, kindness, and truth, — incapable 
of suspicion, incapable of meanness, or falsehood, or cruelty. 
Suppose he believes all this: are these, and snch as these, things 
to be objected against a man whose duty it is, from his oflicial 
relations, to elevate the standard of thinking on these subjects, to 
be more than a conservator of public morals, — to lead, if he can, 
public sentiment ? 



jl 

The second charge amounts substantially to this : Mr. Mann 
tliinks that the teachers of our common schools should be better 
educated than they usually are. He thinks the office of teacher 
the most sacred office on earth ; that the work of giving di- 
rection to the infant immortal mind, is, in itself, a more im- 
portant work than that of providing for the comforts of the 
body, or of healing its diseases ; than that of settling men's affairs, 
or making their laws ; or even that of preaching the Gospel of 
truth to grown men arid women, after their character is formed. 
He thinks that, therefore, the best talents and the purest moral 
character in the community should be engaged in the work. He 
thinks that the business of teaching should be raised to the rank 
of a profession, and that the successful teacher should have a 
place by the side of the physician, the merchant, the lawyer, and 
the divine ; and so highly does he appreciate the mental and 
moral qualifications and attainments necessary to an accomplish- 
ed teacher, that he would have years spent in special preparation 
for the office. So he thinks ; and he has been laboring for years, 
i/i his own luay, and the gentlemen will easily understand what 
that means, to make other people think so too. In doing this, he 
has said, and has been obliged by truth to say, many things very 
distasteful to those of the^Jd-let-alone school. But how nobly has 
he said them. Which of us teachers, no matter how high his 
standard was before, but has had it raised still higher by 
the hearty, earnest appeals of this denounced Secretary ? Which 
of us, as he has read these annual Reports, has failed to have 
his spirit strongly stirred within him ? Do what we would, 
we have, in spite of ourselves, imbibed a new sense of the 
importance of our office, and of the extent and magnitude 
of its requirements. The Secretary has, indeed, spoken to some 
purpose. The voice which has waked the teacher, slumbering 
on his post, has deeply moved society. That broken slumber 
must not again be indulged in. W^e must gird ourselves man- 
fully and resolutely to the work, or we shall be pushed aside and 
braver young spirits will be called in to take our place. The habit 
of slumbering liad grown almost into a school-master's second 
nature. He had often begun with a silly self-conceit, and ended 
with being little better than a fool; so that an old school-master 
was, in common speech, but another name for an old dotard. — 
But for Massachusetts, and for this generation, that state of things 
has passed. The calm, stern, philosophic spirit of the descendant 
of the Pilgrims is not easily roused, but, when roused, no New- 
Englander needs to be told with what energy it acts. Upon this 
subject it is roused. Those qualities have been found united in 
one man which have always been able to rouse it, — the power of 



12 

conceiving and the power of uttering gi-eat truths, with a superi- 
ority to selfish interests. This roused spirit, thus moving in the 
community, will give us teachers great uneasiness if we deter- 
mine to resist it. Is it then wise, in us, to attempt resistance? 
Would it not be wiser, instead of trying to stem the onward pro- 
gress of opinion, to endeavor to lead it? Instead of struggling 
to continue poorer teachers than public opinion demands, to 
resolve to be better than it requires ? 

The argument against special training for the office of a teacher 
has not been fairly stated. A teacher, entering upon his work with- 
out any particular preparation, has been compared by the gentle- 
men to "the Masons and Websters, who studied the laws and con- 
stitution of their country in some village in New Hampshire." 
Whoever knows Daniel Webster, and has ever known Christopher 
Gore, will not, I think, be incHned to consider one or two years' 
diligent study in the Governor's office in Court Square, as pre- 
cisely no preparation for the legal profession, or as likely to leave 
the young Webster in a state very like to that of " a sturdy lad 
from New Hampshire or Vermont, who, in turn, tries all the pro- 
fessions ; who teams it, farms it, j^eddles, keeps a school, preaches, 
edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so 
forth." Not more to the purpose is the implied and irreverent 
comparison with that noble apostle Paul, who had not only been 
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, but had been miraculously 
called by the Lord himself; had been separated to the work by 
fasting, prayer, and the laying on of hands, and had been " sent 
forth by the Holy Ghost." 

The unprepared teacher, who gains experience aiid the whole 
knowledge of his art by practising, alone and unaided, upon the 
minds and spirits of children, is he not rather like the quack who, 
for five dollars, purchases of a charlatan the right to use a set of 
drugs, of whose composition he knows nothing, upon diseases 
and constitutions of which he knows as little ? This comparison, 
however, is not a fair one, though less unfair than those above 
referred to. If the excellent old custom of our Puritan fathers 
were still in vogue, of putting a young man as an apprentice to a 
schoolmaster for seven years, or even for three, such an appren- 
tice, at the completion of his term, would be precisely in the 
condition, in reference to his calling, of the student of law, the- 
ology, or medicine, who had gone through his novitiate in the 
office or study of a private individual. And I venture to say, 
that the Secretary would not lightly pronounce such a one " in- 
competent," or " deeply and widely deficient." But that good old 
custom has long since passed out of use, together with that 
equally excellent one founded on a law of 1647, that every town 



13 

of one hundred families should maintain a grammar school, the 
master whereof should be able to qualify youth for the college. 
This admirable law continued in force up to 1789, when a law 
was substituted whereby only towns having two hundred fami- 
lies were obliged to maintain, that is, keep up through the year, 
such a school. Finally, in 1826, this law was repealed, and only 
the most ordinary requirements were insisted upon for the 
schools of all towns of less than five hundred families or house- 
holders. Every person in the least degree acquainted with the 
condition of the schools in towns of this class, that is, in nearly 
all the towns in the State, from 1826 to 1837, must know that 
they continued rapidly to decline throughout that period, and 
that in 1837 their condition was lower and worse than it had 
been, probably, since the landing at Plymouth. 

Thus we see, that from the days of their extreme poverty, foi 
a space of more than 140 years, the venerable fathers of Massa- 
chusetts required every town of one hundred families constantly 
to maintain a grammar school, the master whereof should be " of 
good morals, and well instructed in the Latin, Greek, and 
English languages." There must thus have been a great body 
of permanent, learned, and able teachers, and to them custom 
required that apprentices should be indented, as they now are in 
the trades. Had this law and this custom continued in operation to 
the present day, there would have been at this moment, in every 
town in the Commonwealth, except twelve or thirteen, a perma- 
nent grammar school, taught by a man of the highest grade of 
education ; and in every one of them, probably, one or two ap- 
prentices. 

Now I venture to say, that the Secretary, in his wildest dreams, 
never imagined such a thing as bringing back the schools to the 
standard of 1647. Are then, — I put it to the gentlemen, — the 
exertions of the Secretary, for the better qualification of the teach- 
ers of the common schools, so very foreign to the spirit of those 
glorious old fathers, who laid so broadly and deeply the founda- 
tions of the freedom, and intelligence, and liberal institutions of 
New England? 

As to the third charge, there can be no doubt, that, having been 
neither apprenticed to a school-master, nor having served long as 
a school-master, — though he is not without experience in that 
line of life, having been a teacher, an officer in a college, a school- 
committee man, a reviser and expounder of the State School-laws, 
and now for seven years devoted to the interests of the schools, — 
he is not perfectly familiar with tire details of instruction in every 
department. How many practical teachers are so ? How many 
teachers of the mathematics have kept themselves thoroughly 



14 

informed of the nice matters of idiom, metre, accent, and 
history, which belong to the classics ? How many classical in- 
structors are at home in the intricacies of algebra, or the manip- 
ulations of chemistry ? The truth is, we have not many thor- 
oughly accomplished scholars, in the largest sense of the word. 
There are not many such in any countiy. Almost every science, 
and every branch of literature, has had its limits so widely ex- 
tended, that oftentimes a life is hardly sufficient for the full mas- 
tery of a single one. The votaries of the natural sciences are 
finding those fields too wide ; they are obliged to run boundaries, 
and confine themselves to their several allotments. Botany or 
chemistry alone is enough of itself to tax the capacities of one 
individual. And so in the sciences of pure and mixed mathe- 
matics, in the moral and physical sciences, and in ancient and 
modern learning. It is not, therefore, ground of a charge of in- 
competency in the Secretary, that he is not familiar with all the 
elements even of those branches which ought to be taught in the 
common schools. The wonder rather is that he should have 
found time, amid the multiplicity of his other cares, coming so 
recently from a profession more than any other remote from 
these things, to render himself so familiar with the matters to be 
taught and the methods of teaching, as to give most useful hints, 
and even most valuable directions, to any one honestly desiring 
to be instructed, — in every branch which he has brought under 
examination. The truth is, there is no ground for the charge. 
Let any one compare those parts of the Reports which treat of 
reading, with that part of these Remarks which relates to the same 
subject. He will find the former clear, intensely interesting, full 
of striking illustrations, abundantly suggestive, and richly reward- 
ing perusal by the oldest scholar; while the other, though good, 
he will find rather involved, not very interesting, and almost 
invariably perplexed by the very witticisms which seem to have 
been intended to give it spirit and brilliancy. Yet the author is 
evidently a man of ability ; superior, probably, to most of those 
who are actual teachers. 

Would it not have been better, it may be reasonably asked, to 
appoint such a person, one actively engaged in teaching, to the 
place of Secretary of the Board? I think, on general principles, 
it would not. No teacher, and no other individual living, with 
perhaps a single exception, could have been found so deeply 
versed in what may be called externals to the schools, — the laws, 
their bearing upon the schools and on each other, and the duties 
of committee-men and others in reference to the schools. This 
is an indispensable part of the Secretary's qualifications. Then 



15 

a teacher must have come wedded, more or less, to particu- 
lar modes of teaching and discipline, and not likely, thereiore, to 
look upon all with an impartial eye. It is one of the great les- 
sons we learn from history, that improvement, reform in society, 
has almost uniformly come from abroad. The establishment of 
the Board of Education was a measure of reform ; and wisely, 
as it seems to me, the first Board cast their eyes upon a member 
of a profession so foreign to the business of teaching, that he 
was likely to regard every question from a new point of view. 
His prominent place, and his known and preeminent mental and 
moral endowments, made the selection not a difficult one. And 
he has done what his friends wished ; and vastly more and better 
than they expected. Such Reports upon the subject of education 
have never before been made. Such an impulse to the cause 
has never before been given. The pages of the Secretary are 
luminous with the noblest truths, and cheerful with the warmest 
and most hopeful philanthropy. The great truths which he 
has proclaimed, and will continue to proclaim, have already 
reached far beyond the limits of our narrow State. They are 
echoing in the woods of Maine, and along the St. Lawrence and 
the Lakes. They are heard throughout New York, and through- 
out all the West and the South West. A conviction of their 
importance has sent a Massachusetts man to take charge of the 
schools of New Orleans ; they are at this moment regenerating 
those of Rhode Island. In the remotest corner of Ohio, forty 
men, not children and women, but men^ meet together to read 
aloud a single copy of the Secretary's Reports which one of them 
receives ; thousands of the best friends of humanity of all sects, 
parties, and creeds, in every State of the Union, are familiar with 
the name of Horace Mann, who will never hear of these gentle- 
men, or of their unreasonable objections and " Remarks." 

There is no mistaking it; a current has been set in motion 
which is not to be checked. It will move onward. These gen- 
tlemen cannot stem it : the strongest and the best of man's im- 
pulses are with it. Let men club together in common cause 
by scores or by thirties ; they may, doubtless, stay the tide for 
a time; but the deep waves go surging on, and will at last 
reach even them. Party spirit may, for a time, in Massachu- 
setts, as it has done in Connecticut, defeat the measures of the 
friends of better instruction in the common schools. Remorseless 
bigotry may overturn the very system of common schools, rather 
than see them in other hands than its own. Every thing exter- 
nal may be swept away; but the spirit of improvement lives in 
the New-England heart, and will surely show its life in new and 
unexpected forms. I do not say this here because I think these 
gentlemen sympathize with the friends of darkness and bigotry. 



16 

I know that some of them do not. But, by making their attack 
at this time, they are doing what they can to help on that interest. 
And some of their advisers would doubtless rejoice to silence the 
voice of the Secretary forever. And even if they should silence 
that one voice ; should they grieve one over-sensitive and over- 
worn spirit to death; can they believe that the cause would 
perish ? Would Stowe of Ohio, and Barnard of Connec- 
ticut, and Young, and his seventy noble helpers of New York, 
and Howe of Massachusetts, die with him ? All these are his 
hearty good friends, and are heartily engaged in the same cause. 
Could not Providence, which has, out of a President of a Sen- 
ate, — no very promising material, as official party station is often 
conferred, — made a strong, undaunted friend of children, — could 
not the same Providence raise up others, equally strong and 
undaunted ? 

Let not the gentlemen fancy that this great movement, which 
they feel, and which seems to make them uncomfortable, is the 
work of one man, or of a few men ; that it is accidental ; that it 
would have been much otherwise if a selfish man, devoted to his 
own selfish purposes, or the ready creature of a party, or the organ 
of a sect, had held the place of the Secretary. There is no acci- 
dent in all this. Let us rather say, there is a Providence in it. 
There is a power above us that shapes our ends. The cry of 
humanity, suffering from ignorance and sin, from the ignorance 
and sin of its oppressors, has gone upward. There is an ear 
open to the cry. There is a friend that hears every sob of the 
poorest infant, whether in the schools and mining dens of 
Old England, or the schools for whites or for blacks in New 
England. And I thank God that those sobs are not heard in 
vain. G. B. E. 



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